Angry Birds on the big screen

Rovio Entertainment, LTD., has announced plans to develop a movie that is, well, for the (angry) birds. Last month the furious foul took their story to screens they are much more familiar with–your smart device. A 52-week cartoon series launched March 17, with a weekly episode being pushed to any one of the over 1.7 billion Angry Birds title apps (according to this article on The Verge) that have been downloaded. Never resting on their laurels, Rovio is looking ahead to a bigger screen.

ENTV reports the movie, which is beginning to amass Hollywood heavyweights to contribute, will crash into a theater near you in 2016. Cool, but... we have questions. Like, 2016? Is that soon enough? A lot will depend on Rovio's ability to continue cultivating the brand. You non-addicts may be interested to know that there are 6, that's right, 6 Angry Birds titles in total. Will other versions inspire downloads from the installed base of Angry Birds addicts?

Already Rovio pulls in over 40% of its revenue from merchandise. This may be the sign of saturation. Or maybe we're just putting the angry bird before the egg. Then again, this is likely where the cartoon series comes in. Rovio wisely tied the series to their apps (cue the tune "Rovio Killed the Video Star"), meaning users can view the series on their own device. As mentioned, 1.7 billion downloads out there in the appiverse now act as an Angry Bird channel. Brilliant.

The apps aren't the exclusive channel, though. The animated series will hit broadcast television 24 hours prior to hitting your device.

By the time 2016 rolls around, the cast will have developed lovable (and hatable, speaking of the piggies) personalities that Rovio is hoping will draw it's legions to the big screen.

So, though we generally discuss all things post-PC, consider this our first discussion on the topic of post-TV.